Mophie Juice Pack Air for iPhone 4 Review

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Cases for the iPhone 4 come in all shapes and sizes. We have tall ones, short ones, colourfull ones, translucent ones, fabric ones, metallic ones and last but not least wooden ones. But why stop at just protecting your iPhone 4? Why not get a case which actually charges it for you also?

Well with thanks to Mophie for shipping us out a brand new iPhone 4 Juice Pack Air 2010 (JPA in short) we can finally decide on whether this added functionality for your iPhone is a worthwhile investement.

Initial Specifications:

• JPA will increase battery Standby Time by: Up to 270 hours
• Talk Time: Up to 6 hours on 3G | Up to 12 hours on 2G
• Internet Use: Up to 5 hours on 3G | Up to 9 hours on Wi-Fi
• Audio Playback: Up to 36 hours
• Video Playback: Up to 9 hours

Review, first impressions

The Mophie Juice Pack Air retails for £79.99, however you can find it cheaper (a la eBay) if you shop around on the internet. Our review model came shipped highly secure via special recorded, and when we tore through that bland brown wooden box, and the bubblewrap, the packaging for the JPA emerged from within. To our delight, the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 4 is a premium product which is shown through its packaging which uses a pull up cover for you to preview the device, and a magnetic strip to keep that cover closed.

In the box you get your case, USB charging cable and instruction manual.

Once you get your mits on the case itself, and get a feel for it, it immediately hits you that the case is not heavy in your hand at all. Officially, the dimensions of the Juice Pack Air are 5.07 in x 2.51 in x 0.68 in; 2.5 oz, however the case itself feels far less than this in width and depth thanks to a contoured back much like the back shell of an iPhone 3G/S.

One thing which is very neat about this case, and a feature that we love, is the insertion of an all-new integrated LED status indicator on the bottom which tells you exactly how much juice is left at the push of a button. It also indicates the charging status so you know how full your case is before you go – this for us was highly convenient.

Another pretty neat feature of this case was that the design acts as a virtual speaker box, redirecting sound from the bottom of the iPhone 4 to the front, resulting in a richer, fuller sound quality.

On the phone

Putting the Juice Pack Air on to our iPhone 4 was as easy as one two three, which requires you to simply slide your iPhone 4 in to the lower two thirds of the case which connects to the iPhone 4′s sync port – once you have done this, just apply the top third of the cover and hey presto you’re covered.

With the phone finally in it’s case you’ll notice the added bulk initially, and ever so slightly the weight. The actual feel of the case when on is one of solidness and sturdiness and the case feels as though it could take a fair knock or two although we never recommend dropping an iPhone 4.

Texture wise the case has a matte effect to the back, which could fray over time (although it is a high quality matte) and a hard plastic shell around the rim. We have to say at this point that the case is wonderfully designed, and although it adds a little bit of length and depth to the iPhone 4, the case is a looker all by itself (see images for proof). With all this talk abot the case adding bulk to your iPhone 4 you have to question the fact that this case is designed to increase your iPhone 4′s battery life, and a little bit of added bulk is always going to happen.

The cutouts on the MophiE JPA for the power, mute, and volume buttons inhibit the common one-handed access to the iPhone 4′s buttons. The volume and mute, however, were only accessible when deliberately holding the case for two hand operation (holding your phone in one hand and pressing a button with the other). We found this a small issue, which was overcome by the visual appeal.

Performance and battery

On paper the Juice Pack Air comes with a 1500 mAh battery, and boy is it a good battery. When using the JPA as an external battery (fully charged iPhone 4 inserted into a fully charged battery pack) the Mophie Juice Pack Air gave us 16 hours and 42 minutes before drying out. Naturally, the iPhone’s battery was still fully charged when it dryed out. This means that the Mohpie Juice Pack Air will charge your iPhone 4 from dead up to around 70 – 73% which is very handy indeed. In tests, the JPA in actual fact charged our iPhone 4 from dead up to 72%.

Testing the case using Mophie’s very own recommended threshold of 20 percent, the iPhone 4 charged at a base rate of about 10.5 percent every 16 to 18 minutes a time, which means that the JPA is a highly efficient external battery for the iPhone 4. However, what this means is that the JPA doesn’t double your battery life – and so if you were going to buy this case on that merit, hard luck.

Wrap up

The Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone Air does not quite double your phones battery life, however it will give you a solid boost of 70% or an extra 16 hours of you like. The addition to this of being a wonderfully designed piece of kit where the smallest details add brilliant functionality such as the inclusion of LED lights make the JPA a must have accessory for your iPhone 4 and a firm Mili PowerSpring 4 contender – given the choice between the two, we would opt for the Mophie every time.

Official TB verdict: 9/10.